Intolerance
by faislebonchoix
Summary: A young girl who was murdered asks Tru for help. In helping her, Tru discovers that her attacker killed her because the attacker was intolerant of her.


Note: The characters do not belong to me. The plot is situated in the first season, shortly after the introduction of Jack.

Tru was in the office on a Saturday night and getting ready to go home as Jack wheeled another body into the exam room. When she saw the body being wheeled in, she sat down her jacket and went into the exam room.   
--- "I got this one," said Jack, dressed in his usual white lab coat. "You can go home, Tru." Tru started for the office to get her things but something held her back. "You need to stay," said Jack. "I understand the feeling." Then he unzipped the body bag. "Amanda Cartwright. 17 years old. Found dead in an alley behind University Hospital. She has marks around her neck. It appears as if she's been strangled. The police looked for blood on her fingernails and teeth or foreign hairevidence of a strugglebut she'd been cleaned."   
--- "Looks like a clean girl," said Tru. "Who'd wanna kill her? A jealous ex-boyfriend."   
--- "I don't know," said Jack. Tru started double-checking for evidence. "Tru, go home."   
--- Tru went over to the sink to wash her hands and then opened the office door when she heard a female voice, "Tru, help me."

The next thing Tru knew, she was waking up on her couch. Her TV was on. There was only snow on the screen. She went to reach for the remote and felt a pain in her back. "Ow," she grumbled. I have got to get into bed before I go to sleep, she thought to herself. Then she turned off the TV. The next thing she did was pick up her cell phone and dial. "Hi, Davis." There was a pause. "Today's one of those days. I need you to find everything you can on an Amanda Cartwright." There was another pause. "I'll see you in an hour. Bye." Then she hung up.   
--- An hour later, Tru arrived at the morgue. Davis had been waiting for her. "Hi Tru. All I could find was her address. Here it is." He handed her a sheet of paper.   
--- "Thanks, Davis. I'll head right over there." Tru picked up her phone and dialed Harrison. As she opened the door, she heard a familiar ring tone. As she looked up, she saw him in front of her. Harrison looked down at his phone. "It's me."   
--- "Tru," said Harrison. "I need to borrow $100. I'll have it back this afternoon with 100 interest. This horse race is a sure thing."   
--- "Harry," said Tru. "I need to borrow your carand the answer's no because that horse race is not a sure thing. It never is. And don't borrow money from a loan shark. I do not enjoy getting phone calls just when I get to work saying I need to pick you up because your leg has been dislocated."   
--- Harrison handed his keys to Tru. "Oh," he replied. "A do-over day."   
--- "Yes," said Tru. "See ya." Then she went to Amanda's address. It turned out to be a residential home. Just after Tru parked, Amanda and a woman came out of the house. They appeared to be in a slight hurry. They got in the car. The woman got into the driver's side Amanda got into the passenger's side. Then the car pulled away. Tru followed them. They ended up parking at University Hospital. Tru parked a few cars behind. Amanda and the woman went in. Tru followed a distance behind. They went to the third floor and walked up to the receptionist's desk.   
--- "Hi," said the woman. "My daughter has an- appointment. Amanda Cartwright.   
--- "Yes," he said. "Here it is. Please take a seat and a nurse will be out shortly."   
--- Upon hearing that, Tru went into the locker room and borrowed a nurse's uniform. She went to the desk and grabbed Amanda's paperwork. She walked out by the receptionist's desk and called, "Amanda Cartwright." Amanda walked towards Tru, followed by her mother. "Are you Amanda's mother?" said Tru.   
--- "Yes," said the woman.   
--- "I have some paperwork for you to fill out. Please take a seat and fill it out," said Tru, handing her some papers. She went back to where she had been sitting to fill them out. "Follow me," she said to Amanda. When Tru got to the exam room, she closed the door. "It says here that your mom made this appointment because she suspects you have an eating disorder. It says she's hardly seen you eat anything in the past two weeks. Do you have an eating disorder."   
--- "No," said Amanda. "You see, my mom is a vegetarian. She raised me as a vegetarian but I'm no longer one. I can't stand the stuff she expects me to eat so I just don't eat at home anymore. I'd tell her this but, in her mind, people who eat meat are the lowest scum on earth."   
--- Tru recorded this all on the nurse paperwork. "Now I gotta weigh you."   
--- "Okay," said Amanda. While lifting up her pant legs, saying, "Look, no ankle weights or anything." Then she stood on the balance. Tru finally balanced it at 60 kg. "I wish it were more. Look at me! I don't look healthy. I look emaciated."   
--- "Well, you certainly don't seem to have an eating disorder to me. The doctor will be in shortly." While Amanda was waiting for the doctor, her mother entered the room. The exchange with the doctor went much the same as the one with Tru.   
--- Of course, Amanda's mother did learn that she was eating meat and she was not the least bit pleased. In fact, she scolded her daughter as if the act of eating meat was a hate crime against animals. "How can you do such a heinous thing," she cried, "harming your fellow citizens of the world ?"   
--- "Mom, come on!" replied Amanda. "Most people eat animals and even animals eat other animals. We're all part of the food chain." Amanda's mother was speechless. She was just so angry at her daughter, wondering how she could turn to such "medieval", such "hillbilly" behavior after such a good upbringing. After the elevator door closed, she went to hit the button for ground floor. But something made her hit the button for the basement instead. She knew just what she'd do, something she should've done 17½ years ago. During her pregnancy, she had bad feelings about this kid. But her boyfriend's mother convinced her to keep the baby. Now, she said under her breath, I'm going to perform the abortion I should've had performed 17½ years ago. When the elevator doors opened, they both stepped out. Once the doors closed, Amanda's mother put her hand around her daughter's neck, squeezing tightly.   
--- "Let her go," said a voice. It was a security guard, accompanied by Tru. Reluctantly, Amanda's mother let go because she was out numbered. The security guard handcuffed Amanda's mother and took her away to the security office, to call the police.   
--- "Thank you," said Amanda. "You saved my life. But how'd you know?"   
--- "Well," said Tru. "There are just some people who like to think that they're more civilized and more open-minded than everyone else but in reality they're some of the most close-minded and dogmatic people in the world." Then the police arrived.   
--- After it was all over, Tru went back to the morgue to tell Davis all about what had happened.


End file.
